ROG Phone to uncage in Malaysia on 22 October

In my opinion, there are two innovative, exciting smartphones that debuted this year. First, the OPPO Find X – a super sleek, all-screen device with the coolest camera sliding mechanism. And then, there’s the ROG Phone – a brash, over-the-top device that gets your heart racing. ASUS’ purpose-built device is coming to Malaysia in two weeks’ time.

Unleashed at Computex Taipei in June this year, the ROG Phone is the epitome of youthful rebelliousness, a fusion of courage, carelessness and outright genius. There’s no holding back, no hesitance, no limits.

This is how you build a gaming phone.

From its edgy, chiselled back with an illuminated RGB logo to its attention to detail on things that matter, the ROG Phone absolutely looks the business.

ASUS’ gaming DNA helps of course, and it shows. There are little elements that gamers will appreciate. Like a USB charge port located at the side of the device, because the phone would be played mostly in a horizontal orientation. In this position, the charge port will be located at the bottom. So, you can keep the device charged by plugging in a cable at the bottom, and not obstructing your hand on the side.

There’s also a pair of AirTriggers on the side of the device, so if you’re playing a game like PUBG or Free Fire, you can use the ultrasonic sensors as triggers. Brilliant.

You’ll also appreciate the front-facing stereo speakers and the bright and crisp 6-inch FHD+ AMOLED display that has a high 90Hz refresh rate and 1ms pixel response time.

Of course, let’s not forget the big things too. Like the speed-binned Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chip that’s clocked at 2.96Ghz, 200MHz higher than stock. It blows everything else out of the water with a 300,000-point AnTuTu score.

There’s 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM with either 128GB of 512GB of storage.

With all that power, the device needs to stay cool, right? Because high temperatures are bad for performance.

ASUS certainly took care of that with a unique 3D vapour chamber design and to top that off, the phone also comes with an AeroActive Cooler that can be attached to the back of the device.

I can go on, but perhaps I should reserve that for a full review.

The beauty about the ROG Phone is the accompanying accessories. There’s a TwinDock that provides a secondary 6-inch AMOLED screen, additional stereo speakers, two extra physical buttons, enhanced cooling and a built-in 6,000mAh battery.

There’s also a GameVice controller with a WiGiG Dock that adds physical gaming controls with dual analogue joysticks and a D-Pad.

Lastly, there’s a Mobile Desktop Dock that gives you ports to connect to an external display (up to 4K UHD resolution), keyboard and mouse, and Gigabit LAN.

The ROG Phone will officially debut in Malaysia on 22 October. It has been rumoured that the 128GB storage version will sell for MYR3,499 while the 512GB will go for MYR3,999. We’ll see what the official numbers are on the day of the launch.

Stay tuned.

Key specs at a glance

For more information, visit ROG.